Sukkah, Daf Kaf Bet, Part 3

 

Introduction

In yesterday’s section Rava said that if the upper reeds of the skhakh are at least a handbreadth they can be fictitiously considered to be lower and join with the lower reeds to form valid skhakh. Today Rava brings a tannaitic source for this opinion.

 

אמר רבא: מנא אמינא לה דכי אית ביה טפח אמרינן חבוט רמי, וכי לית ביה לא אמרינן חבוט רמי – דתנן: קורות הבית והעלייה שאין עליהם מעזיבה והן מכוונות, טומאה תחת אחת מהן – תחתיה טמא.

בין התחתונה לעליונה – ביניהן טמא, על גבי העליונה – כנגדה עד לרקיע טמא.

היו העליונות כבין התחתונות, טומאה תחתיהן – תחת כולן טמא, על גביהן – כנגדן עד לרקיע טמא.

 

Rava said: From where do I say that if the upper reed is a handbreadth wide we apply to it the law of beat and throw it down, and if it is not so wide we do not apply it? From what we have learned:

1)    [With regard to] the roof beams of a house and of the upper story which have no plaster ceiling upon them and are in a line, [the upper ones exactly above the lower]:

a)    If there is uncleanness beneath one of them, all beneath that one becomes unclean.

b)    If it is between a lower and an upper [beam] what is between them becomes unclean.

c)    If it is above the upper [roof beams], what is directly above to the sky becomes unclean.

2)    [In the case] where the upper [roof beams] were [over the gaps] between the lower [roof beams]:

a)    If there is uncleanness beneath one of them, what is beneath all of them becomes unclean;

b)    If above them, what is directly above to the sky becomes unclean.

 

 

To prove his point, that if the upper reed is a handbreadth we can invoke the principle of "beat and throw it down" and if it less than a handbreadth than we cannot, Rava quotes a mishnah from Ohalot 12:5. Below is my interpretation of that mishnah from Mishnah Yomit. Tractate Ohalot is all about "overshadowing" the concept that if something overshadows a dead body and piece thereof, the impurity of the corpse spreads to the other objects that are also overshadowed.

Section one: In the first scenario, the upper roof beams are precisely above the lower ones. If there is uncleanness beneath one of the beams of the house, anything below it is impure because it forms an ohel (a tent). However, the beam also prevents the impurity from spreading to the area above it. And the impurity doesn’t spread to anywhere else in the house because there is nothing overshadowing the spaces in between the beams.

If the impurity is on top of the lower beam and below the upper beam, it remains in this area.

If it is above one of the upper beam then the impurity only travels upwards.

Section two: In this case the upper and lower roof beams are not lined up. Rather the upper beams are spaced right in between the lower beams.

If there is impurity underneath one of them, then it spreads to the area underneath all of them, as if there was only one roof. In other words, we look at the upper beams as if they had been lowered to a level equal to the bottom beams.

If the impurity is found above any of the beams, it is not in any ohel, and therefore it only defiles that which is found directly above it.

 

ותני עלה: במה דברים אמורים – בזמן שיש בהן טפח וביניהן פותח טפח. אבל אין ביניהן פותח טפח, טומאה תחת אחת מהן – תחתיה טמא, ביניהן ועל גביהן טהור. אלמא: כי אית ביה טפח – אמרינן חבוט רמי, וכי לית ביה טפח – לא אמרינן חבוט רמי, שמע מינה.

 

 

And on this it was taught, when do these apply? When the beams are each a handbreadth [wide] and there is [a gap] of a handbreadth between them, but if there is not [a gap] of a handbreadth between them, if there is uncleanliness under one of them, whatever is under that beam is unclean while the space between them and above them is clean.

Thus it clearly follows that if there is a handbreadth we apply the law of beat and throw it down , but if there is not a handbreadth we do not apply this law. Conclude from this.

 

The first part of this quote is a baraita taught on the mishnah from Ohalot. In section two the mishnah said that we can look at the upper beams as if they had been lowered to a level equal to the bottom beams. The baraita says that this is true only if the beams are each a handbreadth wide and there is a gap of at least one handbreadth between the upper and lower ones. Rava attributes this is to the principle "beat and throw it down." Thus the principle is evoked only if the beams are at least one handbreadth wide, the same rule that he applies to the disarranged sukkah.